ARTICLE 426.

Officers applying at the office of the Fourth Auditor for their pay, who are not regularly paid through that office, must produce statements of their accounts, signed by the purser who last paid them, whenever it shall be practicable, or their own certificate, stating by whom, and to what date, they were last paid.

ARTICLE 427.

Every account, voucher, or paper, having relation to the disbursement of public money, must be strictly true in form as well as in substance; must not only set out the facts truly, but every letter, receipt, or certificate, must bear the true date of its execution; and if all the money receipted for be not paid at the time the receipt be given, it should specify certain amounts as received at certain times, or, if that cannot be done, then that the amount stated has been received since some particular date. No receipt must be given or taken until the money is paid, and receipts in blank must never be given or taken.

ARTICLE 428.

Officers indebted to the United States can receive no part of their pay; but, when employed at sea, they may receive one ration, or its value.

ARTICLE 429.

Passed or other assistant surgeons, when temporarily performing the duties of surgeons by acting appointment, or by orders made in conformity with these regulations, shall be entitled to the surgeons under five years' standing.

ARTICLE 430.

pay

of

The articles allowed in the tables of equipment for cabin, wardroom, steerage, and cockpit of vessels in commission, must not be varied in kind, nor exceeded in number, nor must the original cost, or any repair, exceed the prices therein specified for each respectively; and the commander, and other officers, of a vessel shall be bound to accept such articles as shall be furnished from the navy store, whenever they shall be considered of proper quality by the

commandant of the yard; nor shall any such fixtures be surveyed, sold, or replaced, during the cruise, except by the express direction of the commander-in-chief of the fleet or squadron, when upon a foreign station.

ARTICLE 431.

The extra allowances to navy agents, which may be sanctioned by the Secretary of the Navy, or be designated in the annual estimates, and sanctioned by the appropriations of Congress, shall be deemed a full compensation, in addition to their legal commissions, for any and all duties which they may be required to perform, and for any disbursements which may be made by them for any purpose connected with the naval service.

ARTICLE 432.

When any person, other than a commission or warrant officer, belonging to a vessel, shall be fully competent to act as pilot, and shall be employed by his commander to pilot a vessel of the United States out of or into any harbor where pilots are usually employed, in consequence of not being able to obtain a regular pilot, they may be paid one-half the amount which would have been paid to a pilot of the place for the same service.

ARTICLE 433.

When a consul of the United States shall be employed to make purchases or disbursements for the navy, he shall be allowed a commission of two and a-half per centum on his disbursements.

ARTICLE 434.

There shall be allowed to every vessel in commission, and to every navy yard, to constitute a library for the use of the officers, such books as are, or may hereafter be, specially designated by the Secretary of the Navy.

ARTICLE 435.

The necessary funeral expenses for coffins, sexton's fees, and graves of all persons who shall die while in actual service, will be paid by the Navy Department.

ARTICLE 436.

When officers shall be sick, while on duty, and there shall be no suitable accommodations for them on board some vessel, or at a navy yard, or hospital, their necessary expenses, beyond one ration a day, may be allowed by the Secretary of the Navy, provided that no charge for medical attendance shall be allowed, if there was any naval medical officer near who could have attended him, unless the attendance of another physician shall be required for consultation.

ARTICLE 437.

When officers, and other persons in the navy, may have been wounded or hurt whilst in actual service, and suitable accommodations cannot be provided for them in some public vessel, navy yard, or hospital, they may be allowed, until cured or pensioned, all the advantages enumerated in the preceding article.

ARTICLE 438.

When passengers shall be received on board any vessel of the United States, by order of, or authority from, the Secretary of the Navy, there shall be allowed, to compensate the officers who may entertain them, for their extra table expenses, such an amount as the President of the United States may deem reasonable and proper.

ARTICLE 439.

No person shall be permitted to allot a greater part of his pay than will leave, for his own use, at least six dollars a month, and in no case, for an amount exceeding one-half his pay; and no allotment must be authorized, excepting to a parent, wife, guardian, or near relative, for their support.

ARTICLE 440.

Allotments must not be made to commence until the time when the person making them will probably be out of debt to the United States; when made by persons performing duty in the United States, they must not be made for a longer time than one year; when made by those upon, or ordered to, foreign stations, allotments may be made for not exceeding the term the person is bound to serve, nor, in any

case, for longer than three years. Should persons be employed on foreign service for a longer period, the allotment may be renewed.

ARTICLE 441.

All allotments must be made in duplicate; be approved by the commander of the vessel or station; be witnessed and registered by the purser, and one of them forwarded immediately to the Fourth Auditor of the Treasury, through the proper channel, by the commanding officer who approves the same.

ARTICLE 442.

No allotment or power of attorney to receive the pay of a person belonging to the navy is to be made irrevocable, as the pay of such person may become essential to enable him to perform duties which may be assigned to him.

ARTICLE 443.

No allotment of pay is ever to be made by an officer when he is on leave of absence, or on furlough.

CHAPTER XXVII.

CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS.

ARTICLE 444.

All letters which relate to the appointment, promotion, employment, or conduct of officers, the employment of vessels, and the execution of duties, under immediate orders from the Secretary of the Navy, are to be addressed "To the Secretary of the Navy."

ARTICLE 445.

Letters which relate to the construction, defects, repairs, equipment, or to any improvement or alteration of vessels, to supplies of provisions and stores of every kind, and to repairs or improvement of navy yards, or to clerks or mechanics employed therein, are to be addressed "To the Board of Navy Commissioners."

ARTICLE 446.

Should the same communications be made to the Secretary of the Navy and Navy Commissioners, the person forwarding such duplicates shall state the same in the communication.

ARTICLE 447.

When doubts exist as to the proper address of communications, they are to be addressed "To the Secretary of the Navy.”

ARTICLE 448.

All communications, reports, or requests, connected with the public service, which shall be made by officers or others belonging to the Navy, when acting under the orders of other officers, shall be sent open, under cover, to their immediate commander; and if they are intended for, or require transmission to, his superior officer, or the Navy Department, such commanding officer shall forward the same, with such remarks as he may deem proper, to his immediate commanding officer, if any there be, to be acted upon by him, or transmitted to the Navy Department, as the case may require, unless the public interests would be hazarded by the delay of transmission in this manner, in which case, the communications may be direct; but duplicates must be forwarded to the proper commanding officer, and information given to him of the deviation from this regulation, by the earliest opportunity.

ARTICLE 449.

Officers, in signing reports, certificates, returns, official letters, or documents, of any kind, must annex to their names their official rank.

ARTICLE 450.

Officers are prohibited from commenting, in their private correspondence, upon the operations of the vessel or squadron to which they may be attached, or from giving any information of their destination or intended operations, lest such communications may be published, to the injury of the service.

ARTICLE 451.

Officers must enter, in proper books, copies of all the official